


Crossing Lines

by Fighter1Day



Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Character Study, Disapproving Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Engagement, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, processing emotions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 17:25:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13253031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fighter1Day/pseuds/Fighter1Day
Summary: Not everybody can change, and the question isn't if they are willing to. Russel and Noodle have their own opinion when they notice a band around one of 2D's finger's and they're quick to share it.





	Crossing Lines

**Author's Note:**

> A Murdoc-focused (when do I write them about anyone else?) fic based on character study (ig) with a close friend.

It was quiet. The house was calm. Noodle and Russel had gone to meet a few friends downtown. They’d left plates in the fridge, expecting the pair to emerge at some point. The foil-wrapped dishes prepared in hopes that either one would get hungry and would finally emerge to head downstairs for sustenance. Anything to support them as they took the time they needed.

They were bundled together, wrapped around one another so tightly that they were one. They shared the same air. Eyes locked as fingers roamed along bare skin. Gentle touches, hands tracing the musculature of forearms. An everchanging embrace as they laid together, slowly taking in each other’s forms.

A quiet huff as Stuart tried to nuzzle closer, the rustle of the sheets the only other sound. He smiled softly, relieved as he pressed his chest against his partner’s. A yielding warmth that shifted with each breathe. His fingers quickly followed his attention. They brushed along tattooed shoulders, fingers pausing over the seal inked into his right pec. He leaned even closer, pressing his lips just above the circle’s edge. His face returning to the crook in the other man’s neck, breathing him in. His lips parting to murmur praises as his palms flattened in the center of his chest.

He glanced down to his hand, the deep black of the ring around his finger a contrast to both their bodies. His sickly pale only too obvious against the tungsten. The same metal made his partner seem more alive; the dull green brighter, despite the scars and age. He smiled softly, heart swelling every time he looked to the ring. Despite how the differences between them emerged at first glance, it unified them.

It gave them the chance to be whole again, to fill in the pits and cracks in their hearts. The little ring giving them, after so many years on the road, a place to call home. A place to seek comfort when and if they lost everything else. It gave them both a promise of open arms to hold them when they were at their lowest. Something that both of them needed desperately. A person to protect and be protected by. A living promise.

Stuart looked back up to his face. His hand rose to cup his jaw. Those eyes that so many people saw, he could read. He could see the fear that he hadn’t voiced, the worry that had occupied them since the others had seen the ring. Since Noodle had reacted.

Since she had trapped Stuart at the breakfast table where she and Russel reminded him of everything, ever single mark that he’d ever left on him. He’d heard everything. He’d heard every word and accusation, almost all absolutely accurate, that they’d hurled at the singer. He’d collapsed against the wall, unable to stop the panic from welling in his chest. He couldn’t hear Stuart when he finally responded to them, when he’d finally found the courage to stand up and leave them in the room. He watched him storm past, going out to sit in the car and finally process what had happened. Their mates, their family, following his path to the hall and noticed the shivering man. Noodle’s eyes burning through him in an instant, warning him as she headed to her room, screams being heard when she slammed the door.

Russel just looked down to him, sinking to the ground when her screams had quieted to the sound of her assaulting her punching bag, heavy thuds followed by the metallic rattling of its chain. His eyes tired, face disappointed. He sighed, “look, man, I know you’ve been trying to make up for the shit you’ve pulled.” He looked away, his voice firmer, “You’ve been seeing a therapist, and I know you’ve been seeing one special with ‘D. None of that changes what you’ve done, the harm you’ve caused. Mudz, we can’t…” he groaned, “we _can’t_ _trust_ you not to hurt him again. We _can’t trust_ you not to be using this to own him.” He’d stood then, leaving the man in the hall.

Everything had fallen together in that moment. When Stuart had come back inside, Murdoc was still curled in on himself, trembling on the floor. Tears rolling down his cheeks. Quiet sniffles escaping him as he held back the heavy tears, because he deserved the pain. He’d pulled away from the singer’s touch. Freezing when he heard him whimper, immediately looking up to him and pulling him down into his body. His arms wrapped tightly around the other as they cried together.

They managed to find their way up the stairs and lock themselves in Murdoc’s room. Stuart had gone to his bed, collapsing on the sheets and calming at the comfort of his partner’s sheets. Murdoc had leaned against the door, unable to find the strength to go to him. He blocked out the soft begs for him to lay beside the other.

“I can’t,” he shouted. Fat tears pouring down his face as he turned his head to look over his shoulder at him. “I don’t know why I did this.” His head falling back against the door with a muted thud.

Stuart could feel the warmth drain from his body as he sat up, his words numbing him. He stood up, crossing the room to press his body against his partner’s back. Resting his head on his shoulder, watching him, Stuart guided his hands gently around Murdoc’s waist.

It took a moment, felt like a few dozen, before he could find the words for him, sighing as he nuzzled against his neck, “what did you do?”

He could feel when Murdoc’s muscles tensed, his back rigid against his chest. Those eyes, so helpless and surprised, almost hurt. Fresh tears welling up as he looked to him. Stuart could feel the hurt before he heard his voice crack, all it’s normal confidence drained.

“I asked you to spend the rest of your life with me,” his hand rising to cup Stuart’s cheek as he paused, eyes momentarily focusing on the smile spreading on his face. “I asked you to be my partner, my… my husband.”

Stuart nodded, carefully taking his hand from his face to get him to turn and face him totally, he asked again, “what did you do?”

Murdoc tightened his fingers around the singer’s hand, looking to them. He wet his lips, nervous and holding back fresh tears as he tried to vocalize how he felt, “I wanted to make you happy ‘D. I wanted to see that fucking shit-eating grin everyday for the rest of your life.”

“Then why does it matter what Russel and Noodle think, yea?” He chuckled softly, leaning forward to press a soft kiss on the top of his head.

He scoffed, peeking up through his fringe, “because we’ve been together seventeen years.” His voice hushed as he confessed seeing them as family, almost ashamed to admit it now that he knew what they thought of him.

Stuart hummed, gently guiding him back to the bed and sitting on it’s edge, looking up to him as he brought his hands to his lips to grace each knuckle with a quiet peck. He pulled him down against him, laying there beside him, brows furrowed as he thought of a response. Pressing closer, pulling the blanket around them to form a little cocoon. He kissed him softly, relaxing when he could feel Murdoc kiss back, his hands finding his own between them.

“They may be our family, but this is our decision. If they let this tear us all apart, that’s their choice,” he offered, hoping it would help him.

His eyes watered when Murdoc pulled him closer, tears wetting his shirt as he cried into his shoulder again. A moment of strength, the man willing to seek out his comfort instead of lashing out and then running to hide. His arms wrapping tight around Stuart’s neck, pulling him in closer to him, a soft sob when he was wrapped tight in those lanky limbs. Their hearts aching with the weight of broken expectations as their bandmates processed what had unraveled before them, slowly coming to terms with the nature of their relationship as they headed out for the night, giving the couple space after what was said.


End file.
